The Family of Deities

We are a revivalist tradition that values direct, reciprocal relationships with our deities in the present time. You may find some of their names to be familiar, because some of them were borrowed into other pantheons long after the era when the Minoans flourished on Crete. But our experience of them as Minoan deities is distinct from the way they are portrayed in other, later pantheons. So keep an open mind as you explore the Minoan family of deities.

The way these deities weave together the fabric of existence involves a number of different types of relationships, including parent-child and sibling-to-sibling connections. This includes sets of twins and triplets, along with members of the pantheon who are individual deities on some occasions and faces of their parents or each other on other occasions. They form a large and multi-faceted family full of beautiful complexity and flowing changes. Together, they combine to bringing the Mysteries into being.

Our deities’ stories are woven into our sacred calendar, which is based on the seasonal cycles of the Mediterranean, where the Minoans lived and worshiped for centuries on the island of Crete.

This is the family of deities that we have a relationship with because it has become clear to us through practice and experience that this is the way the deities want us to interact with them here and now. We make no claim that this was the way the Minoans arranged their pantheon. You can find a full list of our family of deities here, or read on below.

The family of deities begins with The Mothers (also called The Three). They balance the realms of Land, Sky, and Sea. Their names are Rhea, Therasia, and Posidaeja.

The Mothers have a trio of daughters, who are Ariadne, Antheia, and Arachne. They also have three sons, whose names are Tauros Asterion, Korydallos, and Dionysus.

The family of deities also includes the Horned Ones. Europa the Moon-Cow and the Minotaur the Moon-Bull are the first pair. The Minocapros and Amalthea (who is sometimes a face of Rhea) are a duo of goat deities. The Minelathos the Moon-Stag and Britomartis (also called Diktynna) the deer-huntress-goddess complete this category.

Minos – a god and not a mortal king – helps us understand the aspects of the Underworld within each of us. Zagreus is the bull-god who comes wreathed with flowers in the spring. The Melissae are bee-spirit goddesses who guard the spirits of the dead. Minos guards the underworld. The midwife-goddess Eileithyia watches over our arrival into this world and our departure from it. Daedalus and Talos bring us the inventor’s gifts of smithcraft and architecture, among others. The Daktyls and Hekaterides arose from Rhea’s finger-marks to form the Hands of Great Skill. Beyond, behind, and within everything is the enigmatic Serpent Mother (sometimes known as the Snake Goddess) and her children Thaena, Sydaili, and Eshuumna, who form the Unseen Rainbow. Hygeia and Paean help us find healing. Thumia and Kaulo help us find joy in physical existence.

Before anything else, there was Ourania, Great Mother of the Stars who is the fabric of the universe.

All of our deities do things in their own ways. This often includes behaving in ways that don’t fit contemporary expectations for how things like gender, verbal communication, or social roles operate. We find that it’s often best to simply listen and learn from them, however they choose to present themselves when relating to us. Many of them seem to appreciate it when we don’t ask them to show up in a particular way and instead accept how they choose to appear when they are with us.

Together we are joy!